Method and system for computer-implemented trading of secondary market debt securities

ABSTRACT

A computer-implemented method and system for trading of debt securities (bonds), where multiple dealers participate and compete on a single platform ( 100 ). Dealers and investors have respective interfaces ( 250, 230 ) for communicating. In one aspect, dealers announce new debt security issues ( 400 ), the investors communicate an indication of interest (IOI) ( 500 ) in purchasing the new debt security issues, and the issues are allocated to the investors. In another aspect, issues from multiple dealers are made available to investors on a secondary trading market in a searchable format ( 1000 ). In response to price inquires sent by investors ( 1200 ), the dealers provide offers ( 1300 ) which are briefly held and released to the investor concurrently to allow the investor to consider all offers together. In another aspect, the dealers post bid and offer terms for actively traded issues ( 1700 ) that are updated in real-time to avoid the need for the inquiry procedure.

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/779,082, filed Feb. 13, 2004, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,526,443, issuedApr. 28, 2009, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser.No. 10/026,359, filed Dec. 24, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,590,585, whichclaims the benefit of U.S. provisional patent application No.60/257,807, filed Dec. 22, 2000, each of which are incorporated hereinby reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to a computer-implemented method and asystem for enabling investors and dealers to buy or sell secondarymarket debt securities, also known as bonds, from one another.

Conventionally, bond trading has been performed using three differentmethods. First, the vast majority (about 99.75%) of bond trading occurswith voice-based discovery and trading, also known as an auction system.With this approach, dealers and investors gather in one location tovocally offer and accept various prices and terms for different bonds.Multiple investors, typically institutional investors, can select a bidfrom competing dealers. This process suffers obvious disadvantages inthat the number of investors and dealers that can be involved islimited. Additionally, a clerk must manually enter information regardingthe trades after the fact, which is an error-prone procedure.

Second, a cross-matching system has been used, where anonymous buy andsell offers that are entered are matched by a broker. This approach hasthe disadvantage that the investors and dealers cannot choose to dealwith a specific known party. For example, an investor may prefer to buyfrom a specific dealer who has successfully filled orders in the past,or where some other pre-established relationship has been developed.Similarly, a dealer may prefer to sell to specific investors, e.g., whohave been credit-worthy. Moreover, such transactions are typicallyconducted by telephone, and thus are time consuming and inefficient.

Third, multiple single-dealer systems have been used, where an investoris required to execute an order with a specific dealer or dealers.However, this requires the investor to contact each dealer, typically bytelephone, to determine what inventory and terms are being offered. Thisis also time consuming and inefficient. Moreover, the terms that areoffered can change from minute to minute, and the latest information maynot be offered to all investors on an equal basis.

Moreover, with the above approaches, access to new debt security issuesby the investors is not uniform since, again, information is typicallypassed by a word of mouth.

In a related development, various computer-based systems have beendeveloped for the buying and selling of equity securities, such asstocks. Many of these systems are targeted to the individual investorwho accesses the system via an Internet web browser. Other systems,which are used by investment houses and serious individual investorssuch as day traders, use private networks to communicate with marketmakers, who are typically located at the trading floors of the majorstock exchanges. Moreover, some private networks allow trading forindividual dealers.

However, the above-mentioned systems do not provide a comprehensivesolution for trading debt securities. Accordingly, there is a need for acomputer-based method and system for the buying and selling of debtsecurities which addresses the above and other issues.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a computer-implemented system for tradingof debt securities, including new issues and secondary market issues.

In accordance with the invention, multi-dealer inventory, trading,research and new issue features may be provided to investors for creditmarkets using a network. The network may employ a secure Internetapplication, for instance. All types of debt security products may beaccommodated, including, without limitation, high-grade bonds,high-yield bonds, emerging market bonds, agency bonds, municipal bonds,and European fixed-income products, including Eurobonds, Pfandbrief (aGerman security), European high-yield bonds, and European-dominatedemerging markets bonds. Moreover, the invention can be adapted for usewith future debt security products.

The invention brings together the capabilities and resources of a numberof different debt security broker-dealers, and allow investors topurchase the same securities from different dealers. Both new issues(primary market trading) and secondary market trading can beaccommodated.

The invention provides the following advantages over single-dealersystems: (a) Consolidates market information in a single location toimprove transparency, enhances liquidity by combining market-makingcommitments, enables the delivery of more new issues by aggregatingmarket share, and combines product/sector niches and areas of expertise;(b) increases competition by enabling all dealers to respondsimultaneously to inquiries; and (c) improves efficiency by enablingeasy comparison and combining of research ideas and pricing, and byproviding a consistent format that speeds information gathering.

Moreover, the invention provides the following advantages overcross-matching systems: (a) provides dealer capital that ensuresliquidity from day one/client one by having each dealer maintain aminimum number of issues at all times (e.g., 200 issues), and bycombining market share; (b) gives dealers incentives to continue to addvalue to clients via research and new issue allocations, and byproviding incentives for dealers to provide liquidity and salescoverage; (c) enables dealer partners to clear and settle trades, suchthat the trades are handled by stable back offices that the buyer knowsand trusts, so there is no need for the introduction of new startupsettlement agents; and (d) supports a business model with noper-transaction commission or fees.

The invention also streamlines all aspects of secondary trading. Inparticular, online, sortable cross-dealer research is provided toenhance idea generation, and dealers can post their inventory online andrespond simultaneously to inquiries to speed price discovery. Investorscommunicate directly with traders (dealers) online to streamline thenegotiation process. The investor can define the benchmark for treasurycrossing, which relates to an exchange of securities, to eliminateconfusion and price disputes. Furthermore, online, standardizedresponses and confirmations are provided to promote straight-throughprocessing and improve control process.

The invention provides fast, reliable technology, including a scalablearchitecture that maximizes capacity, hot standbys that minimize therisk of downtime, and rapid system response time.

The invention further provides a middle and back office that enablesdealer partners to handle all trade support and settlement, allowsindependent cross-dealer (i.e., multi-dealer) position valuation, andprovides consistent, exportable confirmations, e.g., using ExtensibleMarkup Language (XML).

The invention enable an easy setup via a download from the web, providesecurity, e.g., using the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and dual-keyencryption, provide established backup and recovery procedures, andinclude third party data services (e.g., information from MoneyLine™ orother financial news services). The invention may also provide a singleaccount agreement that covers trading with all broker-dealer andinvestor partners (i.e., any partner trading with any other partner).

The invention may be web-implemented, and provide an on-screen userinterface at the broker-dealer side and at the investor side thatfacilitates the use of the above features.

In particular, a method for providing computer-implemented trading fordebt securities includes the step of providing respectivecomputer-generated interfaces for a plurality of dealers and a pluralityof investors. A network enables messages to be exchanged between thedealer interfaces and the investor interfaces. Moreover, the dealers areenabled to communicate an inventory of debt security issues to theinvestors via the investor interfaces, and at least a particularinvestor is enabled to submit an inquiry, via the respective investorinterface, for trading (e.g., buying or selling) a particular one of thedebt security issues to multiple ones of the dealers. In response to theinquiry submitted thereto, the dealers are enabled to provide respectiveoffers and/or bids, via their respective dealer interfaces.Additionally, the offers and/or bids provided by the dealers aretemporarily stored, then released to the particular investorconcurrently for consideration thereby. That is, the investor may acceptone of the offers or bids, submit a counteroffer, or reject all of theoffers. Advantageously, all of the dealer offers or bids can beconsidered together by the investor. This is particularly useful forsecurities that are less liquid since it gives the dealers some time torespond to an inquiry.

In a further aspect of the invention, a method for providingcomputer-implemented trading for debt securities includes the step ofproviding respective computer-generated interfaces for a plurality ofdealers and a plurality of investors. A network enables messages to beexchanged between the dealer interfaces and the investor interfaces.Moreover, the dealers are enabled to communicate an inventory of mostactively traded debt security issues, and bid and/or offer termsthereof, to the investors via the investor interfaces. The most activelytraded debt security issues are determined from a larger inventory ofdebt security issues which are traded via the network. Additionally, aninvestor can submit an order, via the respective investor interface, andbased on the inventory, for trading a particular one of the most activedebt security issues to a dealers. In response to the inquiry, thedealer can communicate a message to the investor indicating whether itaccepts or rejects the offer, via its respective dealer interface.

Advantageously, the bid and/or offer terms of the most actively tradeddebt security issues is updated substantially in real-time, and theinvestors are enabled to submit orders, via their respective investorinterfaces, to the dealers for trading the most actively traded debtsecurity issues without going through an inquiry procedure. Forcomparison, with the inquiry procedure, the investors submit inquiriesto the dealers regarding an issue, and the dealers respond with anoffer. The investor may then accept the offer, submit a counteroffer, orreject the offer.

Corresponding apparatuses are also presented, along with computerprogram products.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a fuller understanding of the invention, reference is made to thefollowing description taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an overview of a multi-featured platform;

FIG. 2 illustrates a high level system diagram;

FIG. 3 illustrates a more detailed system diagram;

FIGS. 4-9 are user interfaces for primary market (new issue) trading ofdebt securities;

FIG. 4 shows an interface that provides an investor with acalendar/inventory of new issues from multiple dealers;

FIG. 5 shows an interface that provides an investor with details of aparticular issue, and allows the investor to create an indication ofinterest, for a new issue;

FIG. 6 shows an interface that provides a notice to an investor whencreating an indication of interest;

FIG. 7 shows an interface that allows an investor to monitor thereal-time status of its IOIs;

FIG. 8 shows an interface that displays final pricing information to aninvestor;

FIG. 9 shows an interface that displays an indication history to aninvestor;

FIGS. 10-18 are user interfaces for secondary market trading of debtsecurities in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 10 shows an interface that allows an investor to selectively viewan available inventory of security issues;

FIG. 11 shows an interface that allows an investor to view details of aselected issue;

FIG. 12 shows an interface that allows an investor to enter an inquiryfor a selected issue;

FIG. 13 shows an interface that allows a dealer to view and respond toan investor's inquiry;

FIG. 14 shows an interface that allows an investor to view multipledealer responses to the investor's inquiry, and accept an offer orprovide a counteroffer;

FIG. 15 shows an interface that allows an investor to confirm thedetails of a trade and to enter spot details;

FIG. 16 shows an interface that confirms the price and spot details of atrade;

FIG. 17 shows an interface that allows an investor to view activelytraded issues; and

FIG. 18 shows an interface that allows an investor to compare the bidand offer of different dealers for an actively traded issue, and toenter a buy order.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The preferred embodiments of the invention are now described withreference to the drawings in the figures.

The on-screen interfaces disclosed herein may use the following acronymsand abbreviations:

-   -   Alloc—Allocation    -   An Dt—Announcement Date    -   AON—All Or None    -   ASC—Awaiting Spot Confirmation    -   BM—Benchmark    -   bps—Basis points    -   B/S—Buy/Sell    -   Ccy—Currency    -   Cpn—Coupon    -   Cross—Crossing    -   CUSIP—Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures    -   Dlr—Dealer    -   Flg—Flag    -   GF—Good For    -   IOI—Indication of Interest    -   LAN—Local Area Network    -   LDAP—Lightweight Directory Access Protocol    -   M—thousand    -   MF—Minimum Fill    -   Mgr—Manager    -   Mgmt—Management    -   mm—Thousands    -   Mty—Maturity    -   Msc—Miscellaneous    -   MW—Make Whole call    -   NA—Not Available    -   NM—No Minimum    -   Prc Dt—Price or Pricing Date    -   QA—Quality Assurance    -   Req—Required    -   Resp—Response    -   SD—Single Dealer    -   Secto—Sector    -   S & P—Standard and Poor's    -   Sprd—Spread Sr    -   Bd—Senior Bond    -   Sr Nt—Senior Note    -   Subj—Subject    -   Sz—Size    -   T—Trade Date    -   Tkr—Ticker    -   TSY—Treasury    -   Updt—Update    -   USD—United States Dollars    -   UST—United States Treasury    -   Vol.—Volume    -   YTM—Yield to Maturity

FIG. 1 illustrates an overview of a multi-featured platform inaccordance with the present invention. Generally, the platform 100provides computer-implemented trading 112, syndication 114 and researchand marketing information 116 functions for a number of investor clients110 and dealers 120. In one business implementation of the invention,the investors are clients of the organization that runs the platform,while the dealers have partnership arrangements with the organization.The trading functions 112 include providing an inventory of availablesecurity issues (bonds), pricing of the issues, and a history oftransactions for record-keeping purposes. The trading functions 112 alsoenable investors to submit inquiries for, and make trades in, secondarymarket issues.

Syndication generally refers to the process of having a group of banksacting together, temporarily, to underwrite a new issue of bonds.Specifically, the syndication functions 114 include providing a calendarof new issues, including the managers of the issue, details of theissue, such as type of issue, term, coupon, rating, and so forth, theannouncement date, and the pricing date. The syndication functions 114may also include links to on-line prospectuses for the issues, roadshows(marketing presentations). The syndication functions 114 also allowinvestors to submit indications of interest in the new issues to allowthe underwriters/dealers to determine the demand for the issue and set aprice. Finally, orders for the new issues may be placed by investors.

The research and marketing information 116 functions may include on-lineresearch reports regarding the issues, announcements, and other data andanalytics, which are tools for analyzing issues.

FIG. 2 illustrates a high level system diagram in accordance with thepresent invention. Here, a data center 220 includes a number ofcentralized computing resources for storing, processing and routing databetween the investors' computers 230 and the dealers computers.Specifically, the data center 220 and computers 230, 250 may employ anyknown type of computing hardware and software that should be apparent tothose skilled in the art for carrying out the functions describedherein. The investor and dealer computers 230, 250 may be personalcomputers or workstations, for example, while the data center 220 mayemploy known servers, backup storage devices, network communicationsdevices and so forth (see FIG. 3 for further details). Generally, anetworked application may be written using any available programminglanguage for running at the data center 220, and at the computers 230,250. The data center 220 provides a central clearinghouse for thedealers and investors, and is typically located remotely. A systemadministrator 210 oversees and maintains the data center 220.

A computer program product such as an optical or magnetic data storagedevice may be provided that includes software for programming thecomputers to perform the desired functions. The product may include acomputer usable medium having computer readable program code meansembodied therein for providing the desired functions.

In one possible implementation, the investors 230 communicate with thedata center 220 via a secure Internet network 240. The dealers 250 maycommunicate with the data center 220 via secure leased lines 260. Ofcourse, other variations are possible, but the implementation shown isbelieved to be appropriate for situations where the number of dealers250 is relatively small, and the number of investors 230 is relativelylarge.

FIG. 3 illustrates a more detailed system diagram in accordance with thepresent invention. The figure illustrates a production environment. Thesystem includes a management connection function 310, including aMarketAxess function, which has tools for monitoring and maintaining thesystem. The function 310 communicates with a general management LAN 312in a production network 309 via respective management connections andfirewalls. A backup server 311 may be provided for storing data from theMarketAxess function.

A disk array 313 provides data storage for a transaction and referencedatabase server 315. This server records details of all transactionsbetween investors and dealers, as well as reference information for thesecurities. For example, the server may be a Sun 4 CPU 450 MHz with2.times.18 GB internal storage. The general management LAN 312 is alsoaccessed by a server 317, such as the Pivotal™ accounting and referenceserver.

A staging network 330 includes a database server 332, a database stagingLAN 334, servers 336, a staging LAN 337, such as the Rendezvous (RV)made by Tibco, and dealer gateways and distribution servers 338. Thedatabase staging LAN 334 communicates with the general management LAN312, while the dealer gateways and distribution servers 338 communicatewith the internal distribution LAN 324.

An arrangement for external connectivity 340 is also provided, whichcommunicates with the production network 309 via the internaldistribution LAN 324. The internal distribution LAN 324 and generalmanagement LAN 312 communicate via deal gateways and distributiongateways 322, and RV LAN 318, servers 316, and a database LAN 314. Theexternal connectivity 340 includes equipment for communicating with thedeals and investors. The IXNet network 341 in the external connectivitysection 340 indicates an example of a private network used tocommunicate with the dealers. The Internet 240 communicates with theinvestors 230, and receiver reference date source information.

A quality assurance (QA) function 360 may also be provided formonitoring quality in the other devices. This function 360 includes adatabase server 362, servers 364, and dealer gateways and distributionservers 366.

FIGS. 4-9 are user interfaces for primary market (new issue) trading ofdebt securities in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 4 shows an interface 400 that provides an investor with acalendar/inventory of new issues from multiple dealers. The interfaceshows a cross-dealer new issue calendar, which lists the availableissues from the different dealers. Advantageously, the investor hasimmediate access to a multi-dealer inventory of new issues. Moreover,the issues may be sorted base on various criteria, such as issue name,manager, announcement or pricing date, and so forth. The investor thusdoes not have to consult each manager separately to see what issues theyhave. Note that the button “calendar” has been activated to provide thedisplay, as designated by the right arrow ( ). This notation will beused in other figures as well to indicate a button that has beenselected.

New issues are placed on the calendar (e.g., announced) prior to thetime they are priced. For each issue, the issue name is given (e.g.,Acme Widgets Corp.), along with the size of the issue (in thousands ofdollars), and details regarding the issue (e.g., type of note, term,rating, and so forth). Moreover, one or more lead managers aredesignated, discussed further below. Here, the lead managers are BSC(Bear Steams Corp.) and JPM (J.P. Morgan Chase). The other abbreviationsand acronyms under “Lead managers” denote other examples of financialservices organizations. The asterisk next to the manager's nameindicates they are available to receive IOIs via the system.

The status or state of the issue is also indicated by the calendar.Generally, an issue is announced, then priced, then launched, thensettled. “Announced” indicates that details of the issue have been madeavailable to investors via the system. “Priced” indicates a preliminaryprice has been established for the issue based on the level of interestshown by the investors following the announcement. “Launched” indicatesthe issue is currently being distributed. “Settled” indicates thetransactions for the issue are completed. “Subject” indicates theinformation regarding the issue is subject to change. The announcementdate (An Dt) is provided along with the Pricing Date (Prc Dt). Forissues that have been just recently announced, a pricing date may notyet be determined. The announcement date may be the same or earlier thanthe pricing date.

The name of the issue may be provided as a hyperlink to a new screenthat provides full details regarding the issue, including price talk.Price talk refers to comments related to the price that have been made.The additional details may include the coupon, maturity, rating,benchmark, and bookrunner. The bookrunner is the managing underwriterfor a new issue, and maintains the book of securities sold. The newscreen can appear when the investor selects the hyperlink, e.g., byclicking on it with a mouse or the like.

Also, for the issues that have not yet been priced, a widget such as abutton may be provided to allow the investor to submit an indication ofinterest (IOI) to a dealer. The investor may also select informationsuch as a prospectus or roadshow (marketing pitch) regarding the issue,or obtain details on the management group of the issue, such as thepersonnel who are managing it.

For example, for the issue “Anheuser Busch”, the announcement date (AnDt) is June 22, and the Pricing Date (Prc Dt), when the price is set, isalso June 22. The size of the issue is provided as 300,000 (thousands).The state of the issue is “priced”, which means a price has been set.The lead managers are BSC (Bear Steams Corp) and CSFB (Credit SuisseFirst Boston).

For primary market trading of debt securities, a new issue may behandled by one dealer or a group of dealers (e.g., a syndicate). For agroup, one dealer is typically the lead co-manager. Moreover, joint leadco-managers may be provided in some cases. Senior and junior co-managersmay also be designated. Generally, when the dealer or dealers underwritea new issue, they first obtain a feel for the level of interest in theissue from investors (via the investor's IOIs) before pricing the issue.An issue with a high degree of interest may be oversubscribed, while anissue with a low degree of interest may be undersubscribed. Foroversubscribed issues, the dealers must allocate the available issuesamong the interested investors. For undersubscribed issues, there willbe issues left over. The issue is then priced accordingly at the pricingdate. Moreover, the dealers collect the IOIs prior to the pricing datein the process of book building.

The investor may click the button “101” next to an issue to submit anIOI for that issue, as well as view further details regarding the issue(see FIG. 5). Thus, in accordance with the invention, once the issue isannounced, all investors have an equal opportunity to express aninterest in purchasing it. Moreover, the issuing dealer has anopportunity to gauge the degree of interest in the issue prior to itslaunch from a large population of investors. Once the “IOI” button isselected, the interface of FIG. 5 is activated to allow the investor toview full details regarding the issue, and to enter details regardingthe IOI.

The interface 400 also provides links to a home screen, a noticesscreen, and an indications submitted screen (see FIG. 7).

FIG. 5 shows an interface 500 that provides an investor with details ofa particular issue, and allows the investor to create an indication ofinterest, for a new issue. The details may include a manager section510, including the title, lead managers, bookrunners, and senior andjunior co-managers. A checkbox or circle may also be provided to allowthe investor to designate which manager is to receive the 101, andwhether the other co-managers (i.e., all of the other managers,regardless of status as lead, senior or junior) are to be informed thatan IOI was sent to the selected manager. Any of the managers listed maybe designated to receive an IOI (assuming they participate in the systemas indicated by an asterisk). The darkened circle indicates the featureis selected, while an open circle indicates the feature is not selected.This notation will be following in other figures as well. The investormay click on the circle using a mouse or other pointing device to togglethe selection.

An interface section 520 allows the investor to enter information suchas the size (dollar amount) of the issue that he or she is interested inpurchasing. The investor may also enter the level, which may be marketorder, in which case the investor agrees to pay the market price that isset by the dealer, or limit spread, in which case the investor enters amaximum spread in terms of basis points, or enters a minimum requiredyield. The IOI type is also designated as being no minimum, in whichcase the investor agrees to buy any amount of issues below the requestedquantity; minimum fill, in which case the minimum amount is specifiedfor filling an order when there are multiple trades; or all or none, inwhich case the full amount must be filled in one trade, not multipletrades.

Moreover, the investor designates whether the IOI is to be re-confirmedor auto-accepted via the “Auto-Verify” checkboxes. “Yes” means the IOIis to be re-confirmed by the investor. “No” means the IOI isautomatically accepted. Typically, for the investor's protection, theIOI must be reconfirmed when any information regarding the new issuechanges, such as issue size, change in managers, timing of the issue,and so forth.

A comment field is also provided to allow the investor enter any notesthat can be retrieved later. Additional information may also be accessedvia a prospectus button, an IDs (identifiers) button, and a sellrestrictions button.

Further details related to the issue are given in an interface section530, including the Ccy/size, the coupon type, coupon frequency, firstcoupon date, redemption, debt ranking, maturity, announcement date,expiration price date and time, settlement date, day count, pricingbenchmark (bmk), Moody's rating, S & P rating, Fitch IBCA rating (aEuropean credit rating agency), the minimum bid size, and the minimumdenomination. These details may be entered into the system manually bythe dealers via corresponding dealer interfaces, and/or imported from adatabase. Moreover, the dealers and investors may provide inputs andreceive outputs via their interfaces in any known manner, e.g., viakeyboard, mouse or other pointing device, voice interface, audiointerface, video screen, and so forth. Thus, references herein toactivating a function by clicking a button or the like are just exampleimplementations, as the invention is meant to encompass any knowninterface techniques.

At the bottom of the interface 500, by selecting the “submit” button,the investor may submit the IOI to the designated manager after makingthe desired selections.

Note that the buttons at the top of the interface 500 and otherinterfaces allow the investor to navigate between the different screens.

FIG. 6 shows an interface 600 that provides a notice to an investor whencreating an indication of interest. The notice is required by applicablesecurities regulations. If the investor accepts the terms, the IOI issent to the designated lead managers and co-managers. The dealersreceive the IOIs from different investors over time following theannouncement date, and determine the level of interest in the issue. Aprice may then be set accordingly when the issue is launched. At thattime, the dealers may begin to fill the investors orders based on theterms provided by the investors via the interface 500. If an investorselected the auto-verify function, he or she will be prompted to confirmthe IOI after the issue is launched. Once the IOI is confirmed, theorder can be filled.

FIG. 7 shows an interface that allows an investor to monitor thereal-time status of its IOIs. An activity alert pop up box 710 informsthe investor that the IOI has been allocated (i.e., an amount of theissue has been set aside by the dealer for purchase by a particularinvestor). The alert pops up some time after the IOI has been submitted,typically later in the same day, or a number of days later, depending onthe issue. This is valuable since the investor is immediately made awareof the allocation. Moreover, by clicking on the “Now” button, thedisplay 720 appears, either on the same screen or on a new screen, toprovide messages and issue details. In particular, the display 720informs the investor that an allocation of $24,000,000 has been made,which is less than the requested quantity of $38,000,000. This isacceptable since the IOI type is “no minimum” (NM). The level, paymethod and manager are also indicated as previously selected by theinvestor. Using the indicated button, the investor can cancel the IOI,or verify the allocation. Moreover, further details of the issue may beprovided, along with a history (e.g., when provided, and details)thereof by selecting the appropriate buttons in the display 720. Theinvestor may also navigate among multiple pages to view additional IOIsthat have been submitted using the previous (“prev”) and “next” buttons.

FIG. 8 shows an interface 800 that displays final pricing information toan investor. This information is available when a new issue has beenpriced, which may be hours or days after the IOI has been submitted. Theinterface indicates that the trade is ready to be accepted and exported,e.g., to a back office/accounting function, an archive, and/or acustodian. By clicking on the “accept” button, the investor's request topurchase an issue will be filled by a dealer, with trade details thatare acceptable to both parties. By clicking on the “cancel” button, thetransaction is cancelled. Generally, the details of the final pricinginterface 800 should agree with the criteria entered when the IOI wascreated (see FIG. 5). The allocation, price, and spread of the issue areshown in the region 810 of the interface 800.

FIG. 9 shows an interface 900 that displays an indication history to aninvestor. The indication history notes, for each inquiry, whether aprice has been confirmed, an allocation has been verified, an allocationis available and should be verified, an IOI has been verified, an IOIshould be reviewed and verified, or an IOI has been submitted. In theexample shown, the IOI was initially submitted at 10:30 am via theinterface 500. At time 10:35, the system prompted the investor to reviewand re-verify the IOI. At time 10:40, five minutes later, the IOI wasverified. At time 13:36, an allocation was made available by the dealer,and the investor asked to verify. At time 13:37, the investor verifiedthe allocation. At time 13:38, the price was confirmed.

FIGS. 10-18 are user interfaces for secondary market trading of debtsecurities in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 10 shows an interface 1000 that allows an investor to selectivelyview an available inventory of security issues that are being offered orbid on by dealers in the secondary (resale) market. Advantageously, theinvention increases liquidity and market efficiency by bringing togetheravailable issues from multiple dealers for easy access by investors on acommon platform, with trade information provided in a standardized,sortable manner.

Moreover, the investor may select different inventories, e.g., from thebuttons “US High Grade”, which are investment-grade US securities, “USDEurobond”, which are US dollar denominated, and “EUR Eurobond”, whichare euro-denominated. Here, “US High Grade” is selected as indicated bythe arrow ( ). Additionally, the investor may view an inventory usingthe “inventory” button, or to conduct a trade of a selected issue in theinventory using the “trade” button.

Filters may also be selected by clicking a check box or the like to viewoffers, bids, or actively-traded securities (“actives”). Here, “offers”is selected. The investor seeking to buy an issue will select “offers”to view the offer or selling terms of the dealers, while an investorseeking to sell an issue will select “bids” to view the bid or buyingterms of the dealers. Note that this is in contrast to the primary issuemarket, where the investors are only buyers. Moreover, not that whileseparate interfaces may be provided for offered and bid issues, it ispossible to have a combined interface that lists both offered and bidissues.

The investor may enter the ticker or CUSIP designators for one or moreissues of interest to obtain further information using the “search”button. The requested inventory appears on the screen 1000 in the region1010, and the investor can select the particular issue of interest,e.g., using a pointing device or the like to click on the issue. Here,the issue “WORLDCOM INC” is selected as indicated by the arrow ( ). Inthe region 1010, relevant information is provided for each issue,including the size (number of issues available, in thousands), therating, the issuer, the ticker, the coupon (in percent), the maturitydate, spread (the different between the bid and asked price in basispoints, where one basis point=0.01%), any special flagged note, and thebenchmark. The benchmark is usually expressed in terms of a percentageabove a U.S. Treasury note rate, where the maturity date of the note isindicated. This is typically the most recently issued Treasury securityof the given maturity, and is known as an “On-The-Run” Treasury. Itsvalue is updated daily. For WORLDCOM INC, the benchmark is UST 5.75011/05. A dealer identifier and an update field (which designates whenthe information for the issue was last updated) are also provided. Adealer identifier of *** indicates there are multiple dealers thatcannot be indicated in the current screen space. The screen may bedesigned to accommodate multiple dealer identifiers if desired.

The particular issue details may be entered manually by the dealers attheir respective interfaces, and/or imported from a database. Typically,many screens of new issues are presented that the user may navigate bypaging through using the “prev” and “next” buttons. Only a few exampleissues are provided in the interface 1000 for clarity. Moreover, theissues may be sorted according to the various fields on the title bar,e.g., size, rating, issuer, ticker, coupon, maturity, spread, benchmark,dealer, or update time (when details of an issue were last updated by adealer). This enables the investors to quickly and methodically locateand review issues of interest, and to obtain up-to-the minute updatedinformation for each issue.

FIG. 11 shows an interface 1100 that allows an investor to view detailsof a selected issue. For example, the investor has selected the“WORLDCOM INC” issue. WCOM is the ticker of the issuer, and 7.550% isthe coupon. The interface provides the corresponding details of eachdealer's bids and offers, the inside market, and the freshness of theindicated price (in the “updated” field). In this example, the issue isoffered by three dealers. If a time is given, it indicates an update inthe current day. The inside market refers to the highest bid and thelowest ask prices made by a dealer for its own inventory. For example,the dealer BSC provides an offer with a size of 32,400 and a spread of215 basis points. The dealer DB provides a bid with a size of 2,000 anda spread of 230 basis points, and an offer with a size of 3,000 and aspread of 215 basis points. The dealer UBSW provides an offer with asize of 6,733 and a spread of 217 basis points. Note that spread iscorrelated with yield, so a higher spread means a higher yield. Thus, abuyer seeks out the highest spread, and the seller seeks out the lowestspread.

The inventory detail interface 1100 thus allows the investor toimmediately determine which of the multiple dealers provides the bestterms for a particular issue of interest.

FIG. 12 shows an interface 1200 that allows an investor to enter aninquiry for a selected issue. After viewing the details of the selectedissue in the interface 1100, the investor may wish to enter an inquiryfor the issue to buy or sell it. The interface 1200 appears when theinvestor clicks on the “trade” button on the interface 1100. Using thecheck boxes shown, the investor may select an action of requesting abid, or requesting an offer. Moreover, the investor may enter a firmprice signaling that the investor intends to trade immediately, or theinvestor may enter an “indication” only, which is “subject to” (or“price subject”) subsequent agreement on the price of the issue.Moreover, the investor may enter specific inquiry details, inquiry size,SD, inquiry type (where cash indicates a cash sale, and cross indicatesan exchange of securities), and a benchmark, which is selected from adrop down tool, as indicated by the downward arrow ( ).

In the region 1210, the investor may also select which of one or moredealers to poll (i.e., send the inquiry to). This is particularlyadvantageous since the investor may prefer to buy from specified dealerswith whom the investor has a pre-existing relationship. Moreover, theinvestor may prefer specific dealers due to previous experiences, e.g.,in successful settling. Advantageously, the invention allows an investorto choose to trade with a known dealer. In one possible implementation,the desired dealer may be selected by clicking on a button that togglesbetween YES and NO.

Moreover, the investor can obtain the best terms for a given issue sincemultiple dealers are competing for the investor's trade. In this regard,note that the “in competition” check box may be checked when theinvestor sends its inquiry to more than one dealer. The correspondingdealer interfaces (FIG. 13) inform each dealer that it is in competitionwith at least one other dealer, although preferably the identity of thecompetition is not specified to avoid collusion.

Furthermore, the investor may set a timer (or a default timer may beused) that indicates a time for the dealers to respond to the investor'sfirm price or indication/subject price, such as 5 minutes. In onepossible implementation, the timer provides different times using a dropdown tool. An activity log captures and time stamps all details of theinquiry and trade process, while a status log indicates the status ofthe inquiry. Here, these fields are empty since the inquiry has not yetbeen sent via the “submit” button.

FIG. 13 shows an interface 1300 that allows a dealer to view and respondto an investor's inquiry. Here, the dealer sees that a firm inquiry hasbeen made (as opposed to a subject inquiry). The details of the issueare provided, along with an identifier of the sender (e.g., “macary ateclientj”). The time when the offer is due is also provided (5 minutes).There is no benchmark crossing since the inquiry type is cash. Anadditional notes field provides information to the dealer. Moreover, astatus field indicates a response is requested. If desired, the dealerresponds by entering details of an offer to the inquiring investor,including spread, benchmark, size and time limit for responding (e.g.,three minutes), then clicking on “submit”. Otherwise, the dealer mayenter a pass, signaling that it is not interested in the trade. A timer1310 indicates the time left for the dealer to respond to the inquiry.Note that the example three-minute time limit set by the dealer may notbegin running immediately when the offer is submitted. Instead, it maybegin to run when the offer is released from the holding bin, asdiscussed further below.

Each of the different dealers that were selected by the investor (viathe interface 1200) view the interface 1300. The interface 1300 allowseach dealer to see the details such as the investor's (client's)identity and the inquiry. Additionally, any non-standard details of theinquiry may be indicated, such as a non-standard settlement date.

The activity log indicates that the investor (whose identifier is“eclientj”) has submitted an offer for 5,000,00 of the issue WCOM at acoupon of 7.550 and a maturity of Apr. 1, 2004. Optionally, theinterface 1300 may inform the dealer that it is in competition withother dealers; that is, that the inquiry was sent to at least one otherdealer. This can be enabled by the system by tracking whether anincoming inquiry from an investor has been addressed to multipledealers, and sending data for producing a corresponding message on thedealer's interface 1300.

FIG. 14 shows an interface 1400 that allows an investor to view multipledealer responses to the investor's inquiry, and accept an offer or bid,or provide a counteroffer. Here, the four dealers that the investorselected via the interface 1200 have submitted responses to the inquiry.In particular, as shown in the region 1410, the dealers ABN, BSC andCSFB have submitted offers, while the dealer DB has submitted a pass.Moreover, the best offer has been highlighted by the system. Here, ABNsubmitted the best offer since the spread of 192 basis points is abovethe spreads of BSC and CSFB (191 and 189 basis points, respectively).The system can select the best offer by determining the best spread,i.e., based on its magnitude. This can be achieved, e.g., using knownalgorithms that determine the minimum or maximum value in an array ofnumbers. The status field indicates that a response is requested, whilethe activity log indicates the details of each dealer's response.

In an important aspect of the invention, offers or bids from multipledealers to one investor are stored in a conceptual “holding bin”, andare subsequently released to the investor at the same time. The pricetimer then indicates the amount of time the investor has to respond byeither selecting “counter” to provide a new counteroffer (by returningthe user to the interface 1200), or “accept” to accept a specificdealer's offer or bid. When the investor provides a counteroffer, thedealer may then submit a further offer or bid in response. Repeatednegotiation cycles may occur in this manner.

The price timer can be different for different dealers, and may be setby the “good for” field on the interface 1300. Here, the price timer hasbeen set at three minutes for each dealer, and four seconds have passedsince the concurrent release of the offers (thus, 2:56 remains).Optionally, default timer amounts may be used for the “due in” and/or“good for” times. The data center 220 may be used to implement thisfeature by withholding the transmission of the responses to the investorinterfaces until the “due in” time set by the investor has elapsed.Optionally, a partial transmission is made to the investor interfacesuch that the presence of the offer or bid from a specific dealer may beknown, but not the details, e.g., regarding size, spread, benchmark, andGF (the “good for” time, until the timer expires).

This aspect of the invention improves the uniformity of the tradeprocess by allowing an investor to consider all offers or bids together(at least for a time period equal to the smallest of the dealer-imposedtime limits). The investor is relieved from having to decide whether toaccept one offer or bid when another offer or bid may be received withinseconds or minutes.

FIG. 15 shows an interface 1500 that allows an investor to confirm thedetails of a trade and to enter spot details. After the investor hasaccepted a particular dealer's offer or bid, spot negotiations mayoccur, where the investor confirms the spot vs. the investor'sbenchmark. The investor may accept or re-spot the benchmark via acounteroffer to complete the trade, by clicking on the “accept” or“counter” buttons, respectively. The dealer may impose a time limit forthe investor to respond to the dealer's spot details, e.g., one minute,while the investor may impose a time limit for the dealer to respond tothe investor's spot details. Or, the system may impose a default timelimit.

Here, the status log notes that the spot is Awaiting Spot Confirmation(ASC), and the activity log notes, at 14:10:35, that the dealer (ABN)requests a 101-200 (4.874 yield) spot on the Treasury having a 6.125%rate and maturity of Aug. 31, 2002. This information is presented to theinvestor in the spot negotiation region 1510 of the interface 1500. Notethat “101-200” denotes the value 101+20× 1/32+0×⅛× 1/32.

FIG. 16 shows an interface 1600 that confirms the price and spot detailsof a trade. The “status: filed” indicates the trade is done. The priceis $99.990. As indicated by the activity log, the investor “eclientj”agreed on the final price at time 14:11:11, 36 seconds after it wasreceived. The trade information provided by the interface may beexported as desired, e.g., to a back office/accounting function, anarchive, and/or a custodian. An exportable audit trail shows thecompetitive bid/offer process. The activity log notes that the investorhas accepted the dealer's spot at 10:53:29, four seconds after it wasprovided.

FIG. 17 shows an interface that allows an investor to view activelytraded issues. From the inventory of available issues, the most activelytraded issues may be identified and flagged in the system, e.g., basedon an operator input. For example, the active trading status may bebased on the size of the security when it was originally issued, e.g.,whether the issue exceeded one billion dollars. Other criteria may alsobe used. Moreover, the most active issues can be designated for separatecategories, such as financials, industrials, utilities, supra/sovereigns(supra-national refers to international organizations such as theInternational Monetary Fund or the World Bank), or for all issues, asindicated by the check boxes in the interface 1700. Also, the number ofmost active issues can be determined as a percentage of the number ofissues, e.g., 5%, or as a fixed number, e.g., the top fifty issues.Furthermore, the active issues may be displayed in order of theirrelative activity, or based on other criteria, such as alphabetical byticker or issue name, or by maturity date. The determination of activeissues may be adjusted periodically, such as once a week.

Advantageously, by providing an inventory of actively traded issueswhich are expected to have high liquidity, a tradeable two-way market iscreated that allows an investor to submit an order (not an inquiry) to adealer for quick execution. This avoids the need for the inquiry andresponse process described previously for secondary market issues. Forexample, for the issue AOL, the dealer JPM provides a bid of 122, andthe dealer UBSW provides an offer of 121. “(5)” denotes an order size offive million.

FIG. 18 shows an interface that allows an investor to compare the bidand offers of different dealers for an actively traded issue, and toenter a buy order. Here, the bid and offer details, including size andspread are provided for the different dealers that offer the given issue(e.g., AOL). UBSW is highlighted since it provides the highest spread121 basis points), which is most advantageous for the investor as buyer.In the Buy Order region 1810, the investor may enter the size of theorder and indicate whether it is all or none. The investor may alsoindicate whether the trade is to be outright (cash) or a crosstransaction (exchange or securities).

By clicking on the “submit” button, the order is sent and responded toby the dealer by accepting or rejecting it. Advantageously, unlike theinquiry process, no negotiations occur, so execution is faster.

Accordingly, it can be seen that the present invention provides acomputer-implemented method for trading of debt securities. In oneaspect of the invention, dealers announce new debt security issues toinvestors via respective computer-generated investor interfaces in anetwork. The investor interfaces allow the respective investors tocommunicate respective indications of interest in purchasing the newdebt security issues to the dealers via respective computer-generateddealer interfaces. The dealers can allocate the debt security issues tothe investors in accordance with their respective IOIs. Moreover, theinvestors can specify which dealers receive the IOIs.

In another aspect of the invention, an inventory of issues from multipledealers is made available to investors on a secondary trading market ina searchable format. Again, the investor can choose which dealers totrade with for a given issue. Moreover, the investor may place multipledealers in competition with one another for a trade. In this case,offers from the dealers are held in a holding bin and released to theinvestor concurrently to allow the investor to consider all offerstogether. The investors and dealers may also specify time limits for theother party to respond. Negotiation of spot details between the dealersand investors is also enabled.

In a further aspect of the invention, the dealers post bid and offerterms for actively traded issues that are updated in real-time to avoidthe need for the inquiry procedure.

While the invention has been described and illustrated in connectionwith preferred embodiments, many variations and modifications as will beevident to those skilled in this art may be made without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the invention, and the invention is thus not tobe limited to the precise details of methodology or construction setforth above as such variations and modification are intended to beincluded within the scope of the invention.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A computer implemented method fornegotiating the price for a traded security using a computer tradingsystem, comprising: electronically communicating by said computertrading system a security, and a bid or offer terms thereof, toinvestors from at least one dealer; enabling an investor to provide anindication of interest in purchasing the security to at least onedealer; enabling a plurality of dealers to provide a bid in response tothe indication of interest; storing a bid from each of the plurality ofdealers for at least one period of time in a database accessible by saidcomputer trading computer system; electronically transmitting the storedbid received from each of the plurality of dealers to the plurality ofinvestors at substantially the same time and electronically transmittingsubstantially simultaneously to the plurality of investors an availableinventory of security issues on a standardized manner that are beingoffered and bid on by the plurality of dealers; enabling the investor toaccept, reject or provide a counter-offer to at least one bid; andenabling selecting, by the plurality of investors, different inventoriesfrom the available inventory, using a plurality of filters fordisplaying of the different inventories comprising offers, bids, andactively-traded securities.
 2. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: enabling the investor to select at least one dealer to whichto submit an offer.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:enabling the investor to indicate to at least one dealer an additionalstatus of the offer.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the additionalstatus is an in competition status.
 5. The method of claim 3, whereinthe additional status is a time within which a response to the offermust be submitted.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the limits are atime within which a response to the offer must be submitted.
 7. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising the step of: sorting the differentinventories according to a plurality of fields including size, rating,issuer, ticker, coupon, maturity, spread, benchmark, dealer, and updatetime when details of an different inventories are updated by at leastone of the plurality of the dealers and investors.
 8. The method ofclaim 1, wherein said displaying step further comprising the steps of:displaying simultaneously to the plurality of investors the availableinventory of security issues on a standardized and sortable manner thatare being offered and bid on by the plurality of dealers in a secondaryresale market including issue identifier, coupon rate, details of eachof the plurality of dealer bids and offers, the inside market, and thefreshness of the indicated price, providing the plurality of investorsinformation to determine in real-time which of the multiple dealersprovides the best terms for a particular issue of interest.
 9. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising the steps of: receiving from theplurality of investors a request comprising a bid, or requesting anoffer; receiving from the plurality of investors inquiry details,inquiry size, SD, inquiry type where cash indicates a cash sale, andcross indicates an exchange of securities, and a benchmark; receivingfrom the plurality of inventors at least one specific dealer to send theinquiry allowing the inventor to target the at least one specific dealerto negotiate the price for the traded security; and receiving from theplurality of inventors a firm price signaling that the investor intendsto trade immediately or an indication only, which is subject tosubsequent agreement on the price of the issue.
 10. The method of claim1, further comprising the steps of: transmitting to the plurality ofdealers information to inform each of the plurality of dealers ofcompetition between the plurality of dealers; receiving a selection fromthe plurality of investors of the plurality of dealers; displaying tothe plurality of dealers selected by the plurality of investors detailsrelating to the investor, including the investor identity and theinvestor inquiry; displaying to the plurality of inventors responses tothe inventor inquiry received from the plurality of dealers; receivingfrom at least one of the plurality of dealers at least one of anacceptance of and offer, and acceptance of a bid and responses to theinvestor's inquiry, and accept an offer or bid, and a counterofferresponsive to the spreads determined for the traded security.
 11. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising the steps of: receiving from atleast one of the plurality of investors at least one of an acceptance ofand offer, acceptance of a bid, and a counteroffer responsive to thespreads determined for the traded security; when a counteroffer isreceived from at least one of the plurality of investors, receiving fromat least one of the plurality of dealers a further offer or bid inresponse; and repeating the negotiation between the plurality of dealersand the plurality of investors until at least one of the bid, offer andcounteroffer is accepted.
 12. The method of claim 11, further comprisingthe steps of: displaying to the plurality of inventors the bids, offersand counter offers simultaneously for consideration by the plurality ofinvestors; and receiving an acceptance from at least one of theplurality of investors; initiating spot negotiations between the atleast one of the plurality of inventors and at least one of theplurality of dealers wherein the investor confirms the spot versus abenchmark; receiving at least one of an acceptance and a re-spot of thebenchmark from the at least one of the plurality of inventors via acounteroffer to complete the trade.
 13. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising the steps of: identifying from the available inventory of theavailable issues, most actively traded issues based on at least one ofsize of the traded security when it was originally issued, designatingthe identified most actively traded issues in separate categories,including financials, industrials, utilities, internationalorganizations.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein said identifying stepfurther comprised the steps of: identifying from the available inventoryof the available issues, most actively traded issues based on at leastone of size of the traded security when it was originally issued, and asa percentage of the number of issues; and displaying the active issuesresponsive to relative activity, thereby providing an inventory ofactively traded issues which are expected to have high liquidity. 15.The method of claim 1, wherein the indication of interest furthercomprises a firm offer or a subject to negotiation indication.
 16. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising the steps of: receiving aplurality of the available inventory from the plurality of dealers fordisplay to and access by the plurality of investors; and displaying tothe plurality of investors an available inventory of security issues ona standardized and sortable manner that are being offered or bid on bythe plurality of dealers in a secondary resale market.
 17. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising the steps of: selecting, by the plurality ofinvestors, different inventories from the available inventory,comprising investment-grade US securities and Eurobond securities; andtrading by the plurality of investors of the different inventories fromthe available inventory.
 18. A computer trading system for negotiatingthe price of a traded security, comprising: a computer server system atrading interface and electronically receiving from and electronicallyreceiving messages from a dealer with bid and/or offer terms for thesecurity; and a trading database, communicatively coupled to saidcomputer server system, and storing bids from each of the plurality ofdealers electronically received by said computer server system, andwherein said computer server system performs the following functions:electronically communicating by said computer trading system a security,and a bid or offer terms thereof, to investors from at least one dealer;enabling an investor to provide an indication of interest in purchasingthe security to at least one dealer; enabling a plurality of dealers toprovide the bid in response to the indication of interest; storing thebid from each of the plurality of dealers for at least one period oftime in a database accessible by said computer trading computer system;electronically transmitting the stored bid received from each of theplurality of dealers to the plurality of investors at substantially thesame time and electronically transmitting substantially simultaneouslyto the plurality of investors an available inventory of security issuesthat are being offered and the bid on by the plurality of dealers;enabling the investor to accept, reject or provide a counter-offer to atleast one bid; and enabling selecting, by the plurality of investors,different inventories from the available inventory, using a plurality offilters for displaying of the different inventories comprising offers,bids, and actively-traded securities.
 19. The system of claim 18,wherein said computer server system performs the following functions:sorting the different inventories according to a plurality of fieldsincluding size, rating, issuer, ticker, coupon, maturity, spread,benchmark, dealer, and update time when details of an differentinventories are updated by at least one of the plurality of the dealersand investors.
 20. The system of claim 18, wherein said computer serversystem performs the following functions: displaying simultaneously tothe plurality of investors the available inventory of security issues ona standardized and sortable manner that are being offered and bid on bythe plurality of dealers in a secondary resale market including issueidentifier, coupon rate, details of each of the plurality of dealer bidsand offers, the inside market, and the freshness of the indicated price,providing the plurality of investors information to determine inreal-time which of the multiple dealers provides the best terms for aparticular issue of interest.
 21. The system of claim 18, wherein saidcomputer server system performs the following functions: receiving fromthe plurality of investors a request comprising a bid, or requesting anoffer; receiving from the plurality of investors inquiry details,inquiry size, SD, inquiry type where cash indicates a cash sale, andcross indicates an exchange of securities, and a benchmark; receivingfrom the plurality of inventors at least one specific dealer to send theinquiry allowing the inventor to target the at least one specific dealerto negotiate the price for the traded security; and receiving from theplurality of inventors a firm price signaling that the investor intendsto trade immediately or an indication only, which is subject tosubsequent agreement on the price of the issue.
 22. The system of claim18, wherein said computer server system performs the followingfunctions: transmitting to the plurality of dealers information toinform each of the plurality of dealers of competition between theplurality of dealers; receiving a selection from the plurality ofinvestors of the plurality of dealers; displaying to the plurality ofdealers selected by the plurality of investors details relating to theinvestor, including the investor identity and the investor inquiry;displaying to the plurality of inventors responses to the inventorinquiry received from the plurality of dealers; receiving from at leastone of the plurality of dealers at least one of an acceptance of andoffer, and acceptance of a bid and responses to the investor's inquiry,and accept an offer or bid, and a counteroffer responsive to the spreadsdetermined for the traded security.
 23. The system of claim 18, whereinsaid computer server system performs the following functions: receivingfrom at least one of the plurality of investors at least one of anacceptance of and offer, acceptance of a bid, and a counterofferresponsive to the spreads determined for the traded security; when acounteroffer is received from at least one of the plurality ofinvestors, receiving from at least one of the plurality of dealers afurther offer or bid in response; and repeating the negotiation betweenthe plurality of dealers and the plurality of investors until at leastone of the bid, offer and counteroffer is accepted.
 24. The system ofclaim 23, wherein said computer server system performs the followingfunctions: displaying to the plurality of inventors the bids, offers andcounter offers simultaneously for consideration by the plurality ofinvestors; and receiving an acceptance from at least one of theplurality of investors; initiating spot negotiations between the atleast one of the plurality of inventors and at least one of theplurality of dealers wherein the investor confirms the spot versus abenchmark; receiving at least one of an acceptance and a re-spot of thebenchmark from the at least one of the plurality of inventors via acounteroffer to complete the trade.
 25. The system of claim 18, whereinsaid computer server system performs the following functions:identifying from the available inventory of the available issues, mostactively traded issues based on at least one of size of the tradedsecurity when it was originally issued, designating the identified mostactively traded issues in separate categories, including financials,industrials, utilities, international organizations.
 26. The system ofclaim 25, wherein said computer server system performs the followingfunctions: identifying from the available inventory of the availableissues, most actively traded issues based on at least one of size of thetraded security when it was originally issued, and as a percentage ofthe number of issues; and displaying the active issues responsive torelative activity, thereby providing an inventory of actively tradedissues which are expected to have high liquidity.
 27. The system ofclaim 18, wherein said computer server system performs the followingfunctions: receiving a plurality of the available inventory from theplurality of dealers for display to and access by the plurality ofinvestors; and displaying to the plurality of investors an availableinventory of security issues on a standardized and sortable manner thatare being offered or bid on by the plurality of dealers in a secondaryresale market.
 28. The system of claim 18, wherein said computer serversystem performs the following functions: selecting, by the plurality ofinvestors, different inventories from the available inventory,comprising investment-grade US securities and Eurobond securities; andtrading by the plurality of investors of the different inventories fromthe available inventory.
 29. A computer implemented method fornegotiating the price for a traded security using a computer tradingsystem, comprising: electronically transmitting by said computer tradingsystem a security, and a bid or offer terms thereof, to a plurality ofinvestors from at least one dealer; electronically receiving from aplurality of investors to provide an indication of interest inpurchasing the security to at least one dealer; electronically receivingfrom a plurality of dealers to provide a bid in response to theindication of interest; storing at least one bid from at least one ofthe plurality of dealers for at least one period of time in a databaseaccessible by said computer trading computer system; electronicallytransmitting the stored bid received from the at least one of theplurality of dealers to the plurality of investors at substantially thesame time and electronically transmitting substantially simultaneouslyto the plurality of investors an available inventory of security issueson a standardized manner that are being offered and bid on by theplurality of dealers; electronically receiving from at least one of theplurality of investors an acceptance, rejection or a counter-offer to atleast one bid; and electronically receiving from at least one of theplurality of investors, at least one selection from the availableinventory, for displaying by the computer trading system of thedifferent inventories comprising offers, bids, and actively-tradedsecurities.